MT. PLEASANT-- Several towns in North Sanpete County are celebrating their sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary this year. A brief look back at their histories reflects stalwart pioneers, ambitious and industrious, proud of the towns they resided in and a community-wide desire to improve and beautify their piece of this great earth.

Moroni

In the early spring of 1859, a small company of pioneers consisting of George W. Bradley, Issac Morley, J. Woolf, H. Austin, G.H. Bradley, Niels Cummings, Joseph Shepherd, James Harvey and N. L. Christensen left Nephi for the purpose of colonizing the North Sanpete Valley.

For three days they struggled to get through Salt Creek Canyon and across the divide. They first settled on the west bank of the Sanpitch River, about two miles south of the present site of Moroni. The flooding river caused the pioneers to move north and build the city on the hills on the most pronounced "North Bend" of the San Pitch River.

Moroni a real identity crisis. It went through the names Sanpitch - after a friendly Indian chief, Mego, Little Rome, and Duck Springs before Sanpete's first probate judge named it Moroni City after a Nephite Prophet in The Book of Mormon.

From March 1863 until January 1864, Moroni served as the county seat. Reaching out in all directions, the city was big enough by 1891 to support an "opera house, " the largest in the county, that seated 1,000 persons. This building has been restored and is used for various community functions and events. In the early days, a ticket to the opera house consisted of two pine poles.

For water, settlers tapped the SanPitch river farther east with an intricate and expensive system of canals and ditches that stretched from Mt. Pleasant to Fountain Green's south fields.

Moroni is famous for the Moroni Feed turkey plant, one of the largest employers in the county and produces turkey under the NORBEST label. As a by-product made from the rich turkey droppings, Nutra-Mulch has fast become one of the nation's best compost mixes. It is used in commercial flowerbeds and gardens throughout the country.

Cattle, sheep, turkey ranches and farming also contribute to the economy of the town.

Mt. Pleasant

In 1859 a group of Danish immigrants decided they liked the looks of a tract of land 14 miles north of Ephraim. They first named the town after Madison D. Hambleton, but he fell out of favor, so the town was renamed Pleasant Creek.

During this time, it was the site of the signing of the peace treaty to end the Black Hawk War. Yet the town changed names once again, and the final name of Mt. Pleasant has stuck for more than 100 years.

Among the founding settlers were Mormon converts from Scandinavia, the British Isles, and the eastern United States. By 1880, Mt. Pleasant was the county's largest city, with a population of 2,000, more than 72 percent of its married adults were foreign born. This ethnic diversity had an important impact on village life during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For decades, five languages were commonly spoken in town, creating confusing and sometimes amusing communication problems.

The settlement and development of Mt. Pleasant followed the typical pattern for Mormon towns of the period. A square-shaped townsite was surveyed (eventually containing about 100 city blocks), lots were drawn, and the land was distributed among the population.

Under the direction of James Ivie, a fort of adobe walls and log cabins was built. Pleasant Creek ran through the fort and farming was done outside of its walls. By the time the final peace treaty with the Indians was signed in Bishop Seely's (now the Relic Home) house on Main Street in 1872, bringing an end to the Black Hawk War, many settlers had already built homesteads outside of the fort. Although the townsite is large in scale, the density is relatively low due to the original layout allowing for only four lots per block.

Mt. Pleasant is the home to Wasatch Academy, a private school founded in 1875 which draws students from around the world.

The railroad came to Mt. Pleasant in 1890 and along with it, prosperity. Commercial structures along Main Street reflect those good times. Most building have been preserved to reflect that era. A walk along Main Street is like taking a stroll into the past.

By 1900, Mt. Pleasant had grown to nearly 3,000 persons, the largest size reached by any city in Sanpete County at that time, and the city had earned one of its nicknames, "Hub City."

By 1912, the first high school, North Sanpete, had been completed. That same year the Armory Hall was constructed. The Elite Theater was constructed as a "fireproof" building in 1913, although it burned down seven decades later.

In 1917, a fine Carnegie Library was built in a modern architectural style. The Marie Hotel was erected in 1920, and a large cheese factory came on the scene in 1930, the same year that bus service came to town. The completion of U. S. Highway 89 in 1936 was a boon needed to soften the impact of The Great Depression.

A city hall in 1939 and hospital in 1945, together with new schools and churches, gave Mt. Pleasant a full complement of public buildings. Growth has increased in recent decades, as is evidenced by the small new shopping center on the south edge of town.

The northernmost of the county's "big three" cities, Mt. Pleasant was well situated near forested mountains, vast, fertile fields, and a good supply of water. While several commercial and small industrial enterprises have flourished in or near the city since the nineteenth century, agriculture and stock raising have always been the area's economic staples.

Currently, nearly half of all the farms and ranches are involved in wool growing, while 30 percent raise cattle. Dairy farming, turkeys, grain, and hay are other significant contributors to the local economy. Rambouillet sheep and shorthorn cattle were prominent at the turn of the century, while modern livestock breeds and food strains dominate today.

Fountain Green

Answering a call from Mormon Prophet Brigham Young, George Johnson with his son, Amos, traveled from Santaquin to Uinta Springs, a popular resting place for travelers on their way to Manti. Deciding on the location to start the settlement, the Johnson's met with Albert Petty, county surveyor, and together they plotted the town.

George Johnson renamed the area Fountain Green because of the fountain of water that flowed over the green meadows.

More settlers came to Fountain Green and they started building homes and farming. At this time, there was great discord with the Indians in the area. The residents built a fort for protection from Indian raids.

At one point Bishop Johnson was approached by the Indian chief who told him the Indians wanted food and they would get it, or the people of Fountain Green would die. The bishop told the people of the Indian's desires and they gathered cattle, flour, sugar and vegetables to give to the Indians. This was a great sacrifice and many settlers went hungry that winter, but they were safe from Indian attacks.

In 1903 the hydro-power plant was completed and Fountain Green had their first taste of electricity.

Many new stores and businesses were being built at this time. There were general stores, flour mills, schools, the Woolgrowers Association was formed and they later created the Jericho Association.

The red brick chapel was completed and dedicated, a blacksmith shop was opened, the Home Economics Club was organized, the Fountain Green Garage was started, the Amusement Hall was constructed, a confectionary store was built, the Seely/Whitaker store was built that later became the Fountain Green Municipal Hall, the Fountain Green Mercantile store was built, a cement highway through town was completed, a barber shop and a service station was built. People were very industrious and busy.

From 1900 through 1913 many townspeople became sick with Typhoid Fever, largely because of an unclean water source. It was then decided to build a pipeline from the springs to town in order to deliver fresh water.

Ole Sorenson Sr. had the first telephone in Fountain Green. He was the station agent for the railroad company, so he needed a phone. Later Andrew Aagard had a public phone installed in his store. Then in 1936 dial telephones were installed and Fountain Green had the first municipal dial system in the State of Utah.

The town has seen businesses come and go, with only a couple that have maintained tough economic times. There are still a few sheep and cattle ranchers making a living from ranching, but most townspeople commute for employment.

The town has experienced fluctuations in population, with steady upward growth the past several years.